1st post...cracked/leaking fiberglass bathtub

sushinut

We recently bought a townhouse and found that the bathtub in the master bathroom leaks. Seller disclosure legal stuff aside, what's the best way to fix this?
info:
- Townhouse with master bathroom over a neighbor's garage.
- original fiberglass tub (unit built in '88) has 2 small cracks and several hairline cracks where the side and the bottom of the tub meet...water leaks into neighbor's garage.
- Need to find out the most cost effective fix

I talked to the HOA director who also lives in the community and he said the tub sits directly on gyp-crete. He knows because he replaced his tub with a shower a while back. Apparently there is no molded foam or molded concrete bed for the tub to sit on...is this right? If so, what should I do next?
I was planning on having someone cut a hole in the neighbor's garage ceiling to see where the leak is coming from. However, after learning that it's just gyp-crete underneath the tub I'm thinking I should just get someone to 1) add additional support underneath the tub, is there some sort of spray foam that can be used with the existing tub? 2) get the tub refinished to fix all the cracks

Marvin Gardens

The reason that tubs crack is because of no support underneath. Fixing it would be temporary and it would be ugly. I have seen some good patches and some bad patches. But they both looked like patches.

Best thing to do is to replace the tub. Since you you will most likely get under it for support you will have to tear into it for that.

Of course you are going after the previous owners for this or the inspection since they should have seen this.

Sorry.

sushinut

Thanks for the info ! I have another question:
Is there any way to see that there's no support underneath the tub without pulling the tub? Drilling a hole in the side of the tub and feeding a lighted wire cam? The reason I want to do this is that I need this info plus some other stuff to 'prove my case'. I would be WAY more comfortable replacing the tub instead of a half-support solution + patch job that may fail in a few years.

Marvin Gardens

I can see where you need some evidence. This is a tough one. If you did it yourself it is your word against theirs. If you hired someone to do it then they would be the independent witness.

What I would do it to try and get the fixes done from their end. Talk to your real estate agent and see what they have to say. It seems obvious to me that there was this issue that the sellers knew about when they sold you the property and if they didn't list it in the disclosures then they need to pay up.